Tiny Twin Horses Moved Out of ICU

Rare twin foals keep improving

Twin horses Sunny and Angel have moved into a special "horse condo" built especially for the pair and their mother, by the folks at the Helen Woodward Animal Center.

The folks at the HWAC have been caring for the rare pair of twin foals, which were born in late March to a 9-year-old mare named Lena.

Sunny (a colt) and Angel (a filly) will spend the next 5 months in the stall before being weaned from their mother, said HWAC spokesperson John Van Zante.

When the young horses are ready Van Zante says the owner of the horses has already made arrangements for the pair to go to a new home.

Lena has been donated to the center; HWAC plans to find the 9-year-old mare a new family, Van Zante said.

The foals were being cared for in the ICU stall of the Equine Hospital at the center in Rancho Santa Fe since they were born.

The twins' owner said that prior to the foaling, she didn't know the Lena was carrying twins.

"Twin birth for horses is so rare that it's hard to find accurate statistics," animal center spokesman John Van Zante said in March. "In round figures, the chance of a mare and both twin foals surviving birth is around one in 10,000. Sunny and Angel may have as little as a one in 15,000 chance of surviving more than two weeks."

Hospital manager Christen Hanley said the young horses have both had to wear splints on their front legs while their bones and muscles matured.

According to John Vante, there are more horses per capita in San Diego County then anywhere in the world, except for Riverside County.

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